The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester

The Strong National Museum of Play is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret Woodbury Strong, the Museum opened to the public in 1982, after several years of planning, cataloguing, and exhibition development for the Museum's new building in downtown Rochester. For at least fifteen years after its opened, the mission of the Museum was to interpret the social and cultural history of average Americans between 1830 and 1940, under the direction of H.J. Swinney and William T. Alderson. Mrs. Strong's collections of dolls and toys, American and European decorative arts, prints, paintings, Japanese crafts, and advertising ephemera provided a firm foundation for this mission, and were supplemented with collections purchased and donated to more fully support the Museum's early mission. The Museum received considerable local and national publicity and support and substantial financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities' Exhibitions and Public Programs division. ()